Staying in Hotels for the Summer

With the business travel recovery only now picking up steam, earnings estimates may well come up as hotels boost room rates and expand their operating margins. During the week ending June 19, Sunday through Thursday business travel was up 8.8%.

And in the coming months, rising occupancy rates will allow hotels to boost their average daily room rates, or ADR, even more than they already have.

"Business travel is recovering, group [sales] should strengthen in the second half and bellwether cities like New York are going like gangbusters," said Marc Falcone, analyst at Deutsche Bank Securities. "The drive of revpar growth continues to shift to ADR from occupancy, a trend with positive profit implications."